Sunday, August 19, 2012

Terence McKenna: Final Art Bell Interview

Terence McKennaArt Bell InterviewCoast to Coast AM16th July 1999

A longtime sufferer of migraines, in mid-1999 McKenna returned to his home on the big island of Hawaii after a long lecturing tour. He began to suffer from increasingly painful headaches. This culminated in three brain seizures in one night, which he claimed were the most powerful psychedelic experiences he had ever known. Upon his emergency trip to the hospital on Oahu, Terence was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. For the next several months he underwent various treatments, including experimental gamma knife radiation treatment.Terence describes these experiences in his final Coast to Coast interview with Art Bell on July 16, 1999. He joined the ancestor spirits on April 3, 2000 at the age of 53, with his loved ones at his bedside. He is survived by his brother Dennis, his son Finn, his daughter Klea and many friends, students and admirers.

"I always thought death would come on the freeway in a few horrifying moments, so you'd have no time to sort it out. Having months and months to look at it and think about it and talk to people and hear what they have to say, it's a kind of blessing. It's certainly an opportunity to grow up and get a grip and sort it all out. Just being told by an unsmiling guy in a white coat that you're going to be dead in four months definitely turns on the lights. ... It makes life rich and poignant. When it first happened, and I got these diagnoses, I could see the light of eternity, a la William Blake, shining through every leaf. I mean, a bug walking across the ground moved me to tears. " ~Terence McKenna

About EROCx1

EROCx1 was the founding member of CyberlabZ circa 1991. A multimedia collective of artist who produced live visuals, intelligent lighting, laser shows, VR environments, music and DJ’ed many concerts, festivals, raves and other underground gatherings in Southern California. Most memorable events were: K-Rave, Narnia, Circa, FutureWorld, Big Wig Thumper.

EROCx1 has been greatly interested in entheogens and highly active in the psychedelic community since his early involvement in the Rave scene. Participating in gatherings, workshops, retreats along with reading and listening to the works of Dr. Timothy Leary, Terence & Dennis McKenna, Albert Hofmann, Richard Evans Schultes, Ram Dass, R. Gordon Wasson, Ralph Metzner, the Shulgin’s, Dale Pendell, Christian Rätsch, Jonathan Ott, Robert Anton Wilson, Carl A. P. Ruck, Rick Strassmen and many other luminaries of our time.
In 2005 it was time to take his interests in ethnobotany to the next level by founding Gaian Botanicals, which has not only been a success, but has opened many doors to meet some really great people.